CCTI students prepare for DECA competitions

DECA’s state competitions are right around the corner, and Carbon Career & Technical Institute students are revved up and ready to go.

More than half of the CCTI Distributive Education Clubs of America competitors who attended the district seven competition in December qualified for the state competition, which will be held on Wednesday at Hershey Lodge.

Each district’s top six students in individual events and top four team participants in each category will participate at the state level.

“We’re taking 38 students to states, because some of the events are direct to states,” DECA adviser Stephanie Barto said. “There’s about 2,300 students attending the state competition this year, and that’s the biggest state conference ever.”

Those involved in traditional events will participate in role-playing exercises with judges, in addition to a 100-question test focused on their specialty. Several students will partake in state-only events, like the banner competition, where participants are tasked with decorating a large banner based on a theme word.

CCTI students have been preparing for the state competition for some time now, investing countless hours in their passion projects.

Juniors Shannon Higgins and Rachel Dickson will be working together on a community service project for the competition. Higgins placed first in Automotive Services, and Dickson placed first in Business Services Marketing, but they decided to drop out of their categories in order to present their group project with Alyssa Stamets.

“We’ve been working on it all year,” said Higgins, a third-year state competitor. “We’ve been raising funds for the American Cancer Society. Some of the things we did include bagging groceries at stores and taking donations, selling chocolate bars and candles, and auctioning off birdhouses made by our carpentry and graphic design students.”

As of now, the group has raised about $4,600 for the ACS, though they hope to hit $5,000 by the time they present the check in April.

“Since I’m doing a new event, I’m not 100 percent sure what to expect,” Dickson said. “But I’m very confident in what we have. Our tri-fold board looks nice, and our presentation flows very well.”

Morgan Neumann will be participating in the Retail Merchandising competition after placing first at the district level, and she is looking forward to her second trip to states.

“Retail Merchandising revolves around apparel and accessories, which is really popular here,” she said. “The role-play part of the competition is based on how you would manage stores, what you would do with them.”

The role-playing element can be tricky. Neumann once participated in an event where she had to explore the ethics of selling mattresses that would need to be replaced every few years. Even though she admitted to knowing practically nothing about selling mattresses, she managed to impress the judges and move on.

This year, she’s been preparing with DECA adviser Bill Stoudt, running through various practice tests and scenarios so that she is ready for anything.

“I’m pretty confident. Last year I was nervous. This year, I’m more prepared, I know what I’m doing, and I know that I’ll do well and have a good time,” Neumann said.

Skyler Graver, a first-timer who took the top prize in Sports Entertainment and Marketing, decided to opt out of her category in order to work on a public-relations campaign for nontraditional students at career and technical schools.

It’s a perfect fit, as Graver falls into the nontraditional category herself.

“When I came in as a freshman, I had my sights set on cosmetology. It was 100 percent what I wanted to be in,” she said.

As part of the introduction to CCTI, Graver also got to try out some other paths, including auto collision repair and welding. She was surprised to find that her male counterparts in the auto collision department took her under their wings and helped her out where they could. And then came welding.

“In welding, I thought it was a completely different ballgame, she said. “The welding guys, they’re the intimidating guys. But when I got in there, I kept my head down, welded every second I could and fell in love with it.”

When it came time to choose a path, either cosmetology or welding, Graver sat down and made herself write out the first thing that came to mind. Welding won.

“It was the best choice I ever could have made,” she said.

Going the nontraditional route spurred Graver to partake in the public relations campaign for DECA’s state competition, so she could show other students that they don’t have to stick to the normal path. As she puts it, many students will avoid picking something different to avoid being ostracized by friends and fellow students, and end up missing out on a new passion.

“They’ll tell them, ‘Why would you do that?’ That’s a boy trade, or that’s a girl trade. It makes you less masculine or feminine,’ ” she said. “I want to inspire people to go out and try something they want to try. If they don’t like it, there’s always something to fall back on. We have so many opportunities that people pass by, thinking ‘I just want a normal experience, I just want to stick with my friends.’”

With a proven track record of DECA victories, CCTI’s students and advisers are ready to dominate the competition in Hershey and advance to the nationals.

“I’m very confident, especially with the research events, since they put a lot of work into it prior to the competition. I think a lot of our students will go on to nationals, and I think we’ll do well,” Barto said.